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Since Pinterest launched in 2010, pinning has found its way into the pop culture lexicon, and the site now boasts over 454 million monthly users. The website has led to the rise of virtual mood and vision boards, recipes galore, and DIYs ranging from easy-to-execute to downright impossible. Despite Pinterest’s role as a powerful social media platform, it’s escaped the scrutiny placed on other giants, such as Facebook and Twitter. This can be attributed to the format, which makes it easy to avoid conversations, and to the fact that the content on Pinterest tends to be more innocuous than other platforms, at least on the surface. However, Pinterest has been making moves in the past several years to easily earn it the title as the most positive place on the internet. Let’s dive into how Pinterest is curating a positive and healthy community on the platform and why you need to be keeping an eye on it.

Who’s On Pinterest?

The user base of Pinterest is primarily described as moms who like DIY. However, their massive community is diverse and generally breaks away from other social media platform demographics. Over 77% of users are female, with age ranges evenly distributed. Additionally, over 28% of all social media users maintain an account on Pinterest, where they primarily use it for purchasing inspiration. Pinterest users are active on the platform, with over 260 billion pins saved and more than 5 billion boards created.

What’s It Like?

Pinterest’s communities are vast and often intermingled. While TikTok can boast more separate communities, like BookTok, FoodTok, and NoodleTok (is it a bones day?)—Pinterest’s users overlap. There are countless options to explore on the platform, including fashion, recipes, fitness, home decor, beauty, art, tattoos, and news.  As of January 2021, the top topics on the platform include:

  • Home décor
  • DIY and crafts
  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • Art
  • Women’s fashion
  • Food and drinks
  • Beauty
  • Event planning
  • Gardening

All Social Media is Toxic, Right?

Pinterest isn’t immune to most common pitfalls impacting other social media channels. It’s been used as a tool to spread misinformation, including falsehoods about COVID-19, the 2020 election, medicine, and mental health. The platform has long been accused of fostering impossible and unattainable standards for young women and girls. There are communities within the platform promoting dangerous behaviors, such as disordered eating, medication abuse, or “cures” for conditions that cause long-term harm. 

These are problems that plague many platforms. However, Pinterest has taken a hardline approach to these issues and has implemented several measures to reduce misinformation and discourage dangerous behavior. 

In March of 2021, Pinterest announced new measures to combat vaccine and COVID-19 misinformation, prohibiting ads that offer COVID-19 cures and treatments, curating expert-lead search results related to the pandemic, and further enforcing their health misinformation policy on the platform.

To build upon the misinformation policy, Pinterest has taken great measures to combat misinformation on the platform across various topics. Through the use of AI, machine learning, and human moderators, Pinterest is removing content on the platform that “may harm Pinners’ or the public’s well-being, safety or trust.”

Mental Health on the Platform

It’s no secret that there are detrimental mental health impacts associated with social media use. Often, social media users curate profiles and personas that show an ideal and perfect life, leading to harmful comparisons, especially for young people. 

Pinterest has launched several initiatives to improve mental health and provide a healthy reality check to its users. In October of 2021, Pinterest launched Pinterest Havens, a board that encourages users to “explore the relationship between mental health and rest.” This has also been paired with an IRL installation in Chicago to bring awareness to burnout—utilizing art and community programming—and donating to local Chicago community nonprofits. Pinterest also launched a self-care tool, which is presented when searching for key phrases related to emotional and mental health. 

In July of 2021, Pinterest made a big move as the first social media platform to ban all weight-loss ads. Social media often exacerbates disordered eating, with communities dedicated to encouraging this behavior and ads promoting weight loss products compounding the issues.

Representation

White and wealthy women are often put on a pedestal as a standard to attain, a trend that is evident across all social media platforms, pop culture trends, and media. Pinterest has recognized this and is working to ensure that its platform is inclusive and representative of all its users. 

Earlier in 2021, Pinterest launched a hair pattern search option with a focus on BIPOC users. This tool will enable BIPOC users to find hairstyles that fit their hair texture, shape, and needs more efficiently. By creating a dedicated tool for its users of color, Pinterest has shown that it is dedicated to fostering an inclusive environment where all users can find their needs met.

Pinterest also launched a creator fund designed to elevate creators from underrepresented communities. With this fund, creators must sign their “Creator Code,” which requires creators to fact-check, practice inclusivity, and be kind. 

Is It Working?

There is no straightforward answer as to whether Pinterest’s strategy is working. It’s hard to quantify positivity and negativity on a digital platform, and many of these changes are in their infancy. However, all of this action has posited the platform as a leader in social media moderation. Making these bold and public moves signals to users that the platform does care about the health and well-being of its users and is taking action to protect them.

Should Your Brand be on Pinterest?

Brands have been slow to adopt Pinterest, finding the format not overly intuitive towards spreading their brand messaging. However, establishing your brand on the platform is an excellent opportunity to reach a broad and diverse audience looking for inspiration and ideas. 50% of Pinterest users have indicated that they have bought products after seeing a promoted pin. Pinterest users tend to skew towards those with a higher income, with 41% of users earning more than $75,000 per year, further cementing Pinterest as a part of the e-commerce ecosystem.

Pinterest has a very active community that often goes onto the platform with a goa—whether to get a recipe, find a solution to a household chore, buy gifts, treat themselves, or have some fun. That positions Pinterest as an excellent platform for businesses looking to connect and inspire their audiences. The photo-forward nature of the platform gives brands a perfect opportunity to showcase their products and services in a fun and creative way.

How Can YMC help?

If you’re interested in establishing your brand on Pinterest and other social media platforms, we’re here to help. At YMC, we specialize in connecting brands with Gen-Z and Millennial consumers, and we’d be happy to share our wealth of knowledge with you. Contact us today!

With every new generation comes an increased comfort with broaching taboo topics in public and with their peers. The marketing and advertising world has slowly caught up,  with existing legacy brands becoming bolder and more direct about what they do and sell and a new crop of direct-to-consumer and retail start-ups reinventing how we communicate around formerly taboo subjects. Everything from tampons to birth control to women’s health products and services and erectile dysfunction medications are finally beginning to shed their coded language and inferred meanings. 

For years, brands offering reproductive and sexual health-related products and services have used indirect messaging to avoid plainly saying what they do. However, these companies have begun to embrace directly communicating with their audiences. They have slowly started to shift the discussion about their products and services by using words and phrases previously considered taboo for advertisements.

Who is Driving this Shift?

Phexxi, a hormone-free birth control gel, has been one of the latest entrants to embrace a more direct approach in their marketing and advertising. For instance, they open their latest commercial with the phrase, “welcome to my vagina,” and the rest of their advertisements feature visual references to vaginas, discussions about sex, and have a strong and undeniable focus on women’s empowerment. These messages break a lot of the old rules of how to market and communicate birth control products by directly talking about the product and its uses. 

 

Even a simple biological term like “vagina,” which has long been considered off-limits in media, is now a pivotal part of the strategy to how a brand like Phexxi communicates. Phexxi is flipping the script by directly talking about their product and how consumers will benefit. This removes any confusion and works to capture their audiences’ attention.

Hims (and Hers) are also great examples of brands that offer a wide range of health services and products (hair loss, mental health, erectile dysfunction, sexual wellness, etc.) for men and women and who have led the way in speaking about these previously taboo subjects with a more direct and conversational tone. A recent ad for their erectile dysfunction services ends with “Get hard or your money back.” While erectile dysfunction commercials are certainly not a new phenomenon,  this is one of the first to be so direct with the audience about their product’s purpose. 

Shock Value? Or Something Else?

As expected, a small portion of the public discourse accuses brands like Hims and Phexxi of using shock value to sell their products and services. Shock value has been used in advertising for ages, especially by associations and organizations trying to make a point and promote causes. Some recent examples of shock advertising include the following ad from Sandy Hook Promise:

Consumer brands use shock advertising in ways that don’t involve social causes as well. Burger King is one of the more well-known brands to push the boundaries of what’s expected, with a recent example including a stomach-turning timelapse of a rotting burger to demonstrate their product’s freshness. In March 2021, Burger King UK launched their much-criticized International Women’s Day campaign, where they boldly declared the “women belong in the kitchen,” following it by promoting a scholarship designed to increase the number of women in the cooking profession.

The purpose of advertisements like these is to grab your attention by appealing to strong emotions like anger, disgust, surprise, and sadness. The controversy generated by these advertisements is almost always a part of the marketing plan. Shock advertising tends to bring more eyes to the brand and feeds into the adage that “all PR is good PR.”

So are Phexxi and Hims employing shock advertising? It would depend on who you ask. Sexual health and sex, in general, are considered taboo by some and acceptable by an increasingly large portion of the population including the vast majority of Gen-Z and Millennials. Advertisers and marketers tend to err on the safe side and avoid anything that could inflame any audience, intended or otherwise. Cultural and societal norms tend to dictate what we consider acceptable, and in the United States, where these products are advertised, there is no one set norm. The U.S. is a melting pot of cultures, which means what one person finds unthinkable is considered permissible by their friends.  

It’s also important to consider that the products and services these companies are promoting appeal to a broad audience. Approximately 65% of American women between 15 and 44 utilize at least one contraceptive measure. About 52% of American men experience some form of erectile dysfunction. In both cases, a majority of the population stands are impacted by issues that these products address. The shock value aspect of these commercials can be negated when you think about the sheer number of potential consumers. 

Is This A Good or Bad Thing?

Brands are becoming bolder and more direct with their advertising to demystify what they aim to accomplish with their products and services. There are arguments for and against this approach, and neither side is right or wrong. It’s essential to appeal to your intended audience while trying not to alienate others. It’s equally important not to offend or miss the mark in what you are trying to communicate. Finding a balance between attention-grabbing, direct, inoffensive, and broadly appealing is a juggling act, and some of the balls might drop. It’s essential to figure out what to prioritize and what is important to your brand values and goals.

How Can YMC Help?

Are you looking to revamp your communications strategy? Want to make a bold statement? At YMC, we specialize in connecting brands with Gen-Z and Millennial consumers, and we’d be happy to share our wealth of knowledge with you. Contact us today!

As each new generation comes of age, society shifts, with the youngest driving the trends and the rest begrudgingly following. Marketing and advertising are typically very responsive to these changes and have created some memorable and iconic campaigns through a lot of trial and error. But Gen-Z poses a new challenge to marketers. The oft-talked-about generation was raised in a time where technology was deeply endemic to their lives, advancing at a breakneck speed and heavily focused on deeper development of social platforms. They were also raised amid massive global and societal changes. 

Gen-Z has very different expectations for their lives and how they interact in the world, including with brands and organizations, which understandably creates a lot of uncertainty among marketers. So with that in mind, let’s dive into what Gen-Z expects.

New and Cutting Edge

The internet has simultaneously made the world bigger and smaller, while lightning-fast broadband and mobile internet have offered access to nearly all information within seconds. For marketers, this means that your next campaign needs to be grounded in a solid understanding of Gen-Z, insightful and relevant creative, and an authentic expression of your product, service, or message. Take the time to develop a concept you believe in or find a partner that can help you through the process.

With new emerging social platforms seeing massive adoption every 4-5 years, you need to ensure that your marketing can adapt in a way that’s well-suited to each use case. Your posts on Instagram might be performing well in that environment, but are they right for TikTok? Each platform requires a unique approach, and reusing the same content on every platform is not an effective strategy. Make sure that you prioritize the platforms that align with your marketing goals and detach your brand from platforms your audience no longer uses.

Impactful

For Gen-Z, shopping goes deeper than a transaction. It’s investing in causes and companies that align with their morals. Gen-Z expects the companies they support to positively impact the world, and they want to see them doing it transparently and tangibly. Beyond giving money to important causes, brands need to develop a strategy for engaging in discussions around important issues like racial justice and climate change. There have been some notable examples of this over the past several years, including some successes and some flops. Here are some of our favorite brand wins:

DE&I

Gen-Z wants to see the diversity of the world reflected in the media and advertising they consume. They want voices from people of color to be heard, listened to, respected, and credited. Your campaigns need to reflect this—as does your company’s culture, values, and leadership—and Gen-Z will happily call you out if it doesn’t. Expand your marketing team (and every team) to ensure that a diverse range of voices is heard and reflected, and be sure to engage a diverse and inclusive set of creators for any peer-led campaign. Through your content strategy, you can ensure that these values are represented effectively.

Most importantly, you need to back up the talk with the walk and put in the work to make sure your efforts are effective and well-received. In 2015, Starbucks launched its “Race Together” campaign to spark conversation about race with customers. The campaign received a lot of criticism, with customers calling the entire move patronizing and tone-deaf. In 2018, Starbucks closed over 8,000 stores nationwide for racial bias training after two African American men were arrested for simply sitting in a Starbucks, which further hurt the company’s standing. 

Social Responsibility

We talked about how Gen-Z consumers want to see their favorite brands put their time, money, and energy behind good causes. They also want to see brands acting as responsible corporate members of society. This extends to environmental impact, impact on workers’ rights, and more. Climate change is one of the most pressing issues to Gen-Z and is a very real threat to their lives and the lives of future generations. It’s essential to take the time and devote the resources to accurately assessing your company’s environmental impact. If your company is making a positive environmental impact, communicate this in a way that’s authentic to your brand and its mission. And if your company is falling short, take time to reevaluate your practices and communicate your plans to lessen your climate impact.

Worker’s rights are also a huge area of concern for Gen-Z, and it’s just as important to be a good employer as it is a desirable consumer brand. Gen-Z wants to see that brands treat their employees with respect and supports them with progressive policies. They want to see people paid living wages, have access to benefits, and operate in healthy and safe working conditions.

So Now What?

There’s a lot here to communicate, and it doesn’t need to happen all at once. For every organization, betterment is a work in progress. Every post shouldn’t focus on the issues discussed above; instead, you should develop your brand, marketing, and social strategies through the lens of how Gen-Z views the world. As a marketing team, a lot of what we discussed may be entirely out of your control, in which case, it’s a great time to challenge leadership to enact real change and find a way to talk about it with your community and consumers. It’s never too early or too late to be the change you want to see in the world.